Month: July 2016

That there is an innate threat to life and safety of being a Christian in western societies is historically true, but in modern times is born out of multiculturalism, humanism, paganism and secularism. This is not new, as Christ and His apostles were brutally murdered, and many early Christians, (Hebrews 11) suffered and died for their faith. Their blood sacrifice paved the way for us in the twenty first century to have the faith we hold dear, and that was once delivered to the early saints. While this menace continued on all fronts, extremists with their Satanic inspired, disturbed, false and blinded by hate Islamic ideologies pose the most serious threat to Christians everywhere in modern times. Even a priest in a western democracy, in what was considered a peaceful place, going about his daily business and normally safe, was assassinated by these terrorists. This is now not an issue that is unique nor confined to Islamic countries, the west, Europe and the world better wake up to this threat.

On one hand, Islamic countries are free to spread their ideologies in the west, on the other Christian voices are silence, by threats, intimation and assassination in those countries. Saudi Arabia accepts no form of Christianity, allows no Christian sympathisers, or voices and no churches can be built in that kingdom. Yet the west allows Saudi Arabian money to buy niche properties and established colleges, schools and centres unabated. A recent defector to Christianity from Islam state the Saudi Arabian money is pouring in the west, including trained Islam agents; he was one, posted in governments, public authorities, universities, colleges, to promote their brand of Islam. It caused an uproar in America a couple of years ago when Muslim clerics bought a property with the intention of building a Mosque near the former site of the twin towers, now called ground zero. The place Bin Laden and his Islamist fundamentalist killed over three thousand people when they crashed planes in the towers, bringing it down.

However, Western Europe is the main target and appears condemned to a permanent state of siege, France, Germany and Belgium targeted recently. However, what if sometime in the near future, after more bloodshed and attacks on continental Europe, European government’s starts to negotiate, with the typical Islamic organizations, the terms of surrendering of centuries of hard fought and won democracies to sharia law? We have seen increasing influence of this law in loans agreements and some family law being implemented in Britain, the UK is not safe. Cartoons viewed as harmless fun in the west cannot be about the Islamic prophet or it encouraged assassination such as the ten journalist and two police officers at Charlie Hebdo magazine in France. The fear of assassinations has already seen such cartoons vanished from the European media. After the killing of the priest at his church, the French media banned the publishing of photos of terrorists, mainly because broadcasting it will encourage others from copying and commit even more serious atrocities. Whether this is the brave or cowardly response to jihad violence by our mainstream media, the jury is out.

Turkey however, is one Islamic country that must be watched keenly as they make increasing efforts to join the EU. The countless agreements with Western organizations do not seem to have reduced the hatred for Christians in Turkey and must be a cause for concerns. President Erdogan survived an assignation and an attempted coup, because he is making concerted efforts to Turn Turkey into an Islamic state. He ignored the repeated caution from Western governments, and to seal his position as a strong dictator, and unchallenged, is crushing any who disagree with his policies, spreading his net far and wide, he is targeting people even in America he blamed for conspiracy against him. However, in Turkey, it is the ordinary people that attacks, intimidate and murder Christians, and then the judiciary and political system who found loopholes in Turkish law allow criminals to walk away Scot-free from the offences committed. Because many offences are outside the remit of international news media guilty Turkish citizens and its governments systems are never held responsible.

Meanwhile Muslims are pretty much free to practice their religion and express their views on other religions anywhere in the world, and even more so in Western democracies. While Christians and other non-Muslims are easily and without compromise killed in Turkey and other Muslim-majority countries just for attempting peacefully to practice their faith or openly express their opinions. Former Prime minister Tony Blair and successive governments endorsed even promoted Multiculturalism, which is passionately defended by many liberals in the West, and could have worked wonders in multi-ethnic and multi-religious places such as Asia Minor. However, unfortunately, Islamic ideology allows only one culture, one religion, and one way of thinking, under their rule, only Islam is tolerated. Poignantly, this is the central fact Western liberals do not want to see.

Western liberals will never accept that they help to create radical Islam. Many sociologist and historical commentators agree the west since the period of the 1800’s as being revolutionised culturally, freedom of expressions, allowing permissiveness and licentiousness. On the other hand Islam was returning to the stricter lifestyle, stricter code of dress and cultural practices of the 7th century. The clash with western cultures then was an inevitable result, and is now at the heart of radical Islam. Christianity viewed as their main enemy and a western construction, is their main target. Christians everywhere are in danger then for holding up the banner of Christ. Satan from beginning has always aimed to killed Christ and anyone who calls upon His name is a target for Satan and his host of cutthroat killers represented by Islamist extremism. As only the message of Christ will reveal Satan for who he truly is, and that puts us Christians in arms way! The question then is where do we go from here?

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Friends, occasionally in life, the most difficult things to change, are the things that need change the most. Like stain in a white shirt/dress it is visible, but hard to remove, it can be ruin, unless you get a good stain remover. You should believe this! In fact, those who have experience behind them will confirm that change do not come easily. Change agents are targets, buffeted, blamed for the upheavals their attempts can caused. You are the troublemaker; things were fine before you come along. Stick with the status quo, if it hurt nobody don’t attempt to fix it. This is more like staying in their comfort zones, unwilling to try new things. Very different mentality from if it is not broke do not attempt to fix it. For this means, something is working, but even so, there are times when change is necessary.

Therefore, be certain you understand this, today will never come again, so make it special, a time to remember, an era of change. Make this the day, the time the moment that inspires your dreams.

God is the true love giver through Christ, so give someone courage, give them freedom, and give them faith. Give them hope, for these are uniquely accomplished by your gift of love. Each time that you do, you give them God!

Remember our common humanity mean we join hands in the struggle of life, but do not despair, as one without hope. For without the struggle, failure and pain, we cannot make meaningful progress. Without the fight, blood sweat and tears we cannot fully appreciate the joy of victory. Without disappointment and setbacks, we cannot fully enjoy eating the fruit of success.

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Many are acquainted with the idiom “The pen is mightier than the sword”, but may never understand the context in which it is relevant. The phrase was first written by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, in his historical play Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu, who was chief minister to King Louis XIII, discovers a plot to kill him, but as a priest he is unable to take up arms against his enemies. His page, Francois, points out: But now, at your command are other weapons, my good Lord. Richelieu agrees: The pen is mightier than the sword… Take away the sword; States can be saved without it!

The saying quickly gained currency, says Susan Ratcliffe, associate editor of the Oxford Quotations Dictionaries. “By the 1840s it was a commonplace”. Today it is used in many languages, mostly translated from the English language. The French version is rendered: “La plume est plus forte que l’epee.”

The phrase actually means; those who control information have far more power than those with military might. However and essentially, it can be a delusion as well, as General Patton himself in WW2 proved. The idiom gives the perception that people are smart to begin with, a postulation that has been proven wrong countless times in history. To be even more frivolous we could say whoever has such a view obviously never encountered automatic weapons. Someone may think that he is smart, I control information, and therefore I control the people I govern! Could it be about mind control, a certain word or phrase injected at the right moment gets people to do what I say? May be some even exists on planet earth but not realise the realities of his world, and really exist in a parallel world? A realist would advocate that he controls the weapons, therefore might makes right! Hitler while the world was looking the other way invaded Poland and plunged the world into a devastating war. He thought his military might makes him invincible, no one could stop him but was stopped!

However, in such context, which is most obvious from the phrase, “the pen is mightier than the sword”, those in the corridors of power, those who governs and are in authority, those who control the information that trickles down to the masses. The sometimes-subliminal messages through the mass media, TV, Radio and newspapers that the masses devour and digest each passing moment, have far more power than those with military powers. The false economy that educate us to believe that a trickle down economy is best, where the rich get richer, and the poor barely get by and exist on meagre offerings. The history books that misleads us, that tell their stories rather our stories, which are the true ones. Many of us will remember the wise words of our parents, “All we can do is hope that things gets better and the world changes”. Job advised, “So the poor have hope and injustice shuts its mouth” (Job 5: 16).

However, I say hope is not enough, not unless we hope with our action, by accessing the right information. We must do something, we have to act now and determine our own destiny, in order to make the changes that we seem to be dying for. We must glean the right information, don’t allow others to tell our story, tell our own story, send the right message, take the right road, the right path to empowerment. Only the right information, about who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going will empower us to make the changes in our world. That kind of information, the right ones my friends are indeed mightier than the sword.

We often read and quote, “Judge not lest ye be not judged,” but few of us realize that it is not a phrase that means we don’t make decisions about our lives, who we welcome into our sphere of influence or whom we would want to be our government officials with the skills to give us a good deal in Europe after Brexit, the power to tax us, send us to war, and make a plethora of other decisions which affect us and the world we live in.

I believe most governments enter office with a plan to improve the lives of its citizens,and to change the world and make it better for all. I am of the firm belief in God, the spiritual side of life, and that there is a Divine Plan for our world that most governments missed. We humans beings have no idea “no man knows the minute or the hour” when the world utopia will be ushered in, and when effective balance will be restored to our world, but I do believe it will happen. Are the events we are experiencing good, bad, or maybe neither? Does it bother you that we have so many people who don’t seem the least bothered by gossipping, speaking untruthfully about our neighbors, living in a code of ethics whereby they cannot be trusted, their word is not their bond? It bothers me, but I come from a background where to my parents lying is one of the worst things we could do and that ultimately would mean lying to ourselves. A slanderer, who in fact is lying tears down the foundation of relationships, “gossip separates friends” for ultimately what are we if we lose connection to one another based on what someone has told? Then, is it ever ok to gossip or lie? I mean brothers and sisters, let’s get real here, Satan is the father of lie. If I don’t have to wear a certain three-piece suit, for the ladies a certain “red or black” number and our friends thinks it is the most beautiful thing they ever saw and pull out every stop to lay out £10,000.00 to buy it which to s/he is a fortune and they rushes in and puts it on for us to see and ask, “What do you think? Do I look good in this?” If we really think s/he looks terrible in it, it’s completely wrong for them, should we give our honest opinions or should we lie saying, “Yeah, it’s just right for you, you look great”. Should we speak the truth at all times, or gossip and lie that cause hurt and pain to gain favor?

The question is, do we then call up our friends to critize the wrong choice our friends make? The more crucial point is do we then create a chain reaction, spreading negativity even without finding out the facts? Its call gossiping and the bible id dead set against it, because it generates hurt feelings. I am aware that I may be stretching the point a bit, but to gossip or slander, anyone spreading unkind even a lie about them is no laughing matter.

The Greek word “diabolos” meaning slanderous, slanderer, the Devil, translated in English as “gossip”. Its an adjective but often is used as a noun, “slanderous” or the slanderer, the Devil (Etnglish Dictionary). The Strongs concordance renders it, “to slander, accuse, defame”) – properly, a slanderer; a false accuser; unjustly criticizing to hurt(malign) and condemnto sever a relationship. Ofcourse gossip is common among among men but once becometh saints it should not be a regualr feature in our circlkes. Yet many of us in church have been at the biter end of some viscious roumour and hurtful stories that flyes on wings. And take on a life of their own. You dont know where they came from or how they got started, but they appears truer than the fiction that they really are. Many are born of hate, others grew out of our inabilkity to control the little member, our tongue which casue so much pain and suffering. James warns about the power of the tongue, how unruly and dangerous it can be unless we put it under control. “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3: 8). A small rudder control a big ship in the ocea, a small bridle control a powerful hoirse, but the small tongue we cannot control. We do well if we are asble to control the tongue describe as the most unruly of the body members.

Which is the greatest sin?

This point brings me nicely to the point, the grading of sins and we are all guilty of this. A little gossip hurts nobody, or just a little white lie, we get over it. A boy and a girl becomes pregnant and we through the book at them. The commit the ultimate sins,.Followed by Sabbath breaking, actually we don’t know this. They stayed home one Sabbath and we assume they break the Sabbath because they should be in church yet we don’t know the full story why they were away. My brothers and sisters let us make a conscious effort this week to think twice before we pass judgement on another. Where God and the law is concern no sin is greater than the next, they all are transgression of the universal law and they all spell sins. We will condemn a brother and sister for a sin yet some of the greatest lies comes from those who occupy the pulpit every Sabbath. So some sins seems higher and more potent to others only because they are more visible. We pass judgments on them, open our mouth with haste, but when it is our turn, when we are caught in the act we expected to be treated differently.

While we should all avoid sinning, we are all humans and subject to failures, Peter said, “Little children sin not, but if we sin, we have and advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. Be careful not to gossip, be careful not to pass judgement, we don’t know the whole story, find out the facts, and empathize. There is an acceptable realism behind the frequent quote, “every person has got a story behind them”. It goes without saying that there is a personal story that is at the heart of every person action.We should all understand there is a reason whether good or bad that makes us who we are and act the way we do. This level of understanding should help us to be making concerted efforts in knowing the facts about people, where they have been, before we make assumptions or pass judgement on them. Experience another feelings and empathize before we speak lie, gossip and cause pain.

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I like to agree with friends that reminds me that I am an inspirational preacher, yet one who believe that we expect too much of teachers. That we all have embraced different concepts, mostly wrong ones of what higher education institutions are designed for. In fact, I will go one-step further to advocate that the word “teacher” is a greatly exaggerated and misapplied word. Most educators will tell you they do not teach you, they facilitate the discovery of your inner self, your own inner ability and help you develop who you truly are. You, all of you, all of humanity are created in his image, God made you who and what you are today, he made you highly favored, you are blessed.

Therefore, the term institutions of learning is a better rendition of those institutions, because what they do is help you develop what you already have deep inside. What you were created with, that reserve of hidden potential, talents that lay hidden, that lies dormant from your birth, is just waiting to be revealed and release to an unsuspecting world. That reservoir of capabilities God created in you, waiting to be tapped into, to face and survive in a challenging atmosphere. Humanity was/is created with a vigorous body, an efficient coordinated mechanism that is capable of adjusting given time, to any situation and to any environment. Make haste to recognize that we are much more than skin and bones, much more than a body of flesh, much more than the elements that comprise us, more than the sum total of our being, we are more valuable than gold, we are made in the image of God. Start now, open your eyes to your reality, discover your creative power, you are God made.

The inner you, the hidden us, should and must be trained to take care of the complex world in which we all live and we must be observant to the constant changes taking place around us. So today friends, start affirming and send a message from the inner creative self to the conscious outer you for a speedy adjustment to a changing environment. Make it a daily prayer, to impel the inner creative, gifted and skilled person that you are to make a conscious decision and send the best message to the outer you. You must make use of every opportunity and strive for the best outcome in this life, so that you may fulfill the will of the Most High God, your creator, and make it in the life to come. If we find a difficult path, if Satan hinders us, block our path with a heavy stone, and we find a valley in our way, doubts and fears multiplied, remember God move mountains. Not by might, not by power, but by his spirit, we will overcome. Earth has not problem, that heaven cannot solve, the best is yet to come. Always remember that we are designed for a purpose, created in his image with the capability to create as God create. We were given that creative ability to recreate ourselves and that each of us should daily chart out a path that brings us closer to our creator, and the vision of whom He wishes us to become, whom we really are, children of the creator of the universe. You need to take note that you the person God created has a special ability or quality to create and therefore God wants you to discover you are creative beings, and can become successful beings. Discover your creative ability, identify the real you, your creative self.

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As humans all of us have to deal with or are subjected to some kind of, or levels of fear from time to time. Let us for a moment put our brakes on, or take our running shoes off and together examine the theme and principle of Fear. For most people, it is the thought of fear itself that is greater than what it is they are fearful of. When fear is fully cooked, it consumed all in its path and brought about a life of pain and misery. It becomes a life wasted in the shadows, lost opportunities, not willing to venture out and live life to the full. The opposite of fear is courage, a life that is not afraid to engage with reality and challenge perceptions for what is tangible. From a biblical basis, fear is challenged, laid bare and destroyed with the spirit of valour.

It is only when we are able to confront our fears, that most of the time we will discover that the thing we fear, that giant that stood before us, the insurmountable mountain in our way, a large barrier that block our path, that we will finally realise it was not really such a big deal, not such a threat after all. The young and energetic David suppresses fear and confronts the Philistine giant through courage, born out of his confidence in God. He recognise as we all should that fear and dread already defeat us before we start, as it did the whole Israelite army. So the realisation is that fear defeats more people than any other one thing in our world. Fear Satan’s voice already echoes, we will not make it, so there is no need to try. However, most of our problems would be solved, totally disappear before we faced them and if instead of fearing we face them with courage and make up our minds to walk boldly toward them rather than away from them.

Whenever change is introduced whatever the context, the fences start going up, we’re afraid and it is because we don’t know enough. We feel uncomfortable, uncertain of what will happen, we want to cling on to the past. Many great inventors, developers, theorists argues that they faced many rejections, doubts and challenges when they first introduce something new to the world. If there was no acceptance of new inventions, washing machines, electrics lights, motors vehicles of aeroplane what would the world be like today? We are inheritors of those great inventions, great introductions of change from what we knew to something different. For many of these new things, though they signify change, if we understood enough, about the difference it would make to our lives, we would never be afraid. From Paul’s position, whenever we fear anything, we give that certain thing, or person we fear power over us. Therefore, gain strength, courage and confidence by and through any life experience that we encounter. We must seriously contemplate our position and take a stance, look squarely at fear and say you have no power over me. This is our courage our resistance to fear, we must put fear under subjection, master it, and not become a slave to it.

In the Scriptures, fear is use for a mental boldness against sin and characterised by panic when in a dangerous situation as well as intimidation. All who experience fear recognise that it is a painful demonstrative grief stimulated by imminent pain, danger and disaster, evil or by impressions concerning the same. It can be fear of something we experience that is real to us or something perceived to be. Whatever it is and from wherever its origin fear will torment us and punish us, because fear is self-induced misery. Satan knows that the only way that he can defeat us, is by causing us to fear, which increase doubts where we once have confidence. “There is no fear in virtue-love; but mature love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not matured in love” (1John 4:18). What is fear? It is perturbation, uneasiness, dread, or shock. Perturbation is when a person becomes alarmed, and paralyzed by feelings of anxiety toward the problems or situations that they faced. It is an irrational fear of the unknown, a dread of unseen and unproven future. Usually people run away and hide from their problem, from friends and society, like cornered terrified animal. Humanity’s’ biggest fear is death, even though the Scriptures advised that we should not fear it because Christ is the answer and the only solution to death brought to us by Adams action. Therefore, we should not fear death, but we should fear never beginning to live, fear blocked life, it paralyses.

There is a Reverential Fear

This kind is a reverence manifesting itself in obedience. In this respect, fear is a Christian virtue. “Honour all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the king” 1 Pet. 2:17). The meaning of “fear” then is determined by the context in which it is used. Neglect or rejection of the mystery doctrine of the Church-age and failure to utilise its fantastic problem-solving devices result in many problems, including fear. Fear is also lack of thinking under pressure. It is a general problem in life.

We are designed by God to be rational creatures but fear makes us irrational. Fear is an irrational and emotional sin. In fact, many believers have discovered that when you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. For the believer, fear is failure to learn and apply Bible doctrine to the problems of life, and failure to learn and utilise the problem-solving devices.Fear is also a part of the emotional complex of sins. Fear is made up of a whole system of sins that include worry, anxiety, insecurity, incapability of doctrinal application, and therefore inability to use the problem-solving devices. The word worry comes from the word to choke, to strangle, and it is an extension of fear.

By the way, we always have to throw this in, if you have fear, worry, anxiety or insecurity in your life, you are sinning in those areas. (Rom 14:23b), whatever is not from faith is sin. Fear includes all the problems of emotionalism, for fear is an emotional sin. Many sins involve only thinking but fear involves emotion and no thinking. The Christian loser is bogged down and hindered from his advance by various categories of sins and arrogance related to fear. Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

The only thing we have to fear is Heb. 4:1-4, Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to really live. Look at Heb 13:6, so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” And this is a quotation of Psa 56:4, “In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” To face your fears and not be afraid is the final test of maturity. Fear is crippling, it shackles those who could do great things and keeps them from even attempting that which they could possibly achieve. Fear chokes and kills dreams and creativity and the most interesting thing about fear is that it is a learned behaviour.

Then there is what we call the snowballing principle of fear. The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear. Today you may be worried about only one thing; tomorrow about two things, etc. And soon you become so emotionally involved in fear that you have no identity. Irrationality means loss of identity, which means the accumulation of fear until you are afraid of life. And fear is something that, if not controlled, continues to develop in your life until you have no capacity to enjoy life and as a believer you become a loser.

“There they were in great fear where no fear had been;” (Psa 53:5), here David was speaking of the ungodly David.You see fear is irrational thinking, there was no reason to fear. One of the motivations for becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol is fear of life, anxiety, worry, and tension. So the extent to which you surrender to fear, the greater is your capacity for fear. To the extent to which you surrender to fear, to that extent fear controls more and more of your life. And increasing fear means increasing insecurity, which destroys your capacity for love, life, happiness, and blessing. And no set of circumstances in life will ever make you happy. No matter how much wealth you have, success, prosperity, you’ll have all kinds of fears.

“Give ear to my prayer, O God; And do not hide Thyself from my supplication. Give heed to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the pressure of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me, And in anger they bear a grudge against me. My heart is in anguish within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me; And horror has overwhelmed me” (Psa. 55:1-5). That is what fear will do, it destroys happiness, and where there is fear happiness is absent. That is because there is no way you can have true love or true happiness apart from a healthy mental attitude. And fear destroys the mental attitude. The greater our capacity for fear, the more we increase the power of fear in our lives. The more we increase the power of fear in our lives, the greater our mind set as a failure believer and the greater our chances of disappointment to execute the plans of God through the process of the gospel and the spiritual life.

The greater our chances of failure to execute the gospel of Christ, is the sooner we cancel our equal opportunity to glorify God. The sooner we cancel our equal opportunity to glorify God, the sooner we live a life of total misery through volitional responsibility. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life, the greater your capacity for fear. Most of our problems and obstacles would melt away if, instead of shrinking in fear before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them. Look at what happened to the children of Israel when Moses told them to “stand still” and stop being afraid. “And as Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them” (Ex. 14:10). By concentrating on Pharaoh’s army, the problem, they were overwhelmed by fear and they completely forgot the grace of God and the power of God and the amazing liberation that they had experienced recently.

The people concentrated on the wrong thing, they were concentrating on the problem! They not only freaked out but they began to do something which all of us have been guilty of at some time or another “they began to whine and complain.” Moaning and cranky Christians are not going to solve the problems! If we’re cranky, we’re focusing on the wrong things! We have all done this at some time in our lives! We focus on the situations of stress rather than the ideologies of the code. We focus on the adversity rather than the resolution. The point is that we have to know what to focus on in times of stress. One of the main disruptions in time of stress is mentioned in verse 10, “…and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord” (Ex 14: 10). The response of fear and anxiety removed any possibility of applying creed. The people had seen the power of God in their deliverance from Egypt, but they made no application from that principle to this disaster.

The people failed to focus on what they had learned and allowed fear and panic to control them. They expressed fear rather than their faith and they screamed in terror to the Lord! Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Nevertheless, Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Ex 14:11-14).

First they had to be calmed in their mental state or else some of them would have turned back to the Egyptians “begging to be slaves”! And you’ll live like a slave unless you learn to become stabilised under pressure! The Jews faced extermination from the pursuing chariot army of Pharaoh…they were not trained in war…they were in a hopeless situation! So Moses told the Jews “do not fear!” When we are in a hopeless situation, that is when we need to think, and there was a hopeless situation. The Lord will fight for you as he did for Israel, while we keep quiet and remain calm. It’s the same thing as David said “And that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands” (1 Sam 17:47).

The advice and process is the same today, Paul advice to us, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom 8:31). We do well if we listen and apply.

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Someone once said, great minds discus policies, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people”. Unfortunately many of us finds ourselves in the latter camp! We must today take a serious look at ourselves, examine which camp we are in, and make a decision now, to move camp. We add no value to an organisation if we target people, even focus on events. We must question even dismiss decisions made by those in authority, but never focus on the man behind the decision. Reject bad decisions, based on friendship, handpicked, and family link, it is called Nepotism! Position by inheritance, selection of who is liked is wrong!

However, we must love the people behind the decisions. We must be people of principle, we are not against people selected, or the people behind the decisions, we are against the decision process that allows the wrong decisions to be made. Because of these wrong decisions, people have lost hope in those who leads. The survey that only 2% of leaders are actually in their right God gifted, God inspired roles should cause us to reflect on our actions and the decisions we make. The reason the church struggles is because we suffer a spirit gifted brain drain. Christ want trained, gifted people to lead His church, the reason He called many, and the12 that remained was trained and sent out to win should. We now must rise up and stand up for what we believe in, even if it is done by people we love, even if we stand alone. In the end, it is not about us, it is about God. Live every moment as if it is our last on earth days. We must start to represent Christ by sharing the Gospel message with haste, rapid speed and a hint of urgency. Unfortunately we find ourselves shifting our focus, playing the man rather than the ball. The problem rises because many who claim to represent the Gospel don’t know what it is, or what it is about. Many in governance who never took a leadership course, attend a management seminar, not even accept the importance of training, are the ones we choose to lead and manage. They criticise those who promote the leadership standards being raised, critique the introduction of theological training for leadership, yet they do theology everyday. These actions don’t even make sense in a rapidly changing world environment in which the church is expected to reach out to every member of society.

Paul’s statement, Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible…To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law…To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law…To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some…I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Cor. 9: 19-23). Paul was a of principle and one who was firmly of the believe that the gospel of Christ is more important than our personal preference. He spent sleepless night, went on tireless journeys, to affect the cause of Christ in the world. He was interested in personal popularity, or else he would cave in to the insult and treats to his personal safety. He was such a versatile soul that he could represent Christ before kings and still identify with the poor. Though he was well trained in Judaism, trained at the feet at Gamaliel and a Pharisee (Acts 22: 3), in other words well educated. That was not his mantra, after conversion everything becomes secondary to the cause of Christ. Yet his training was his vehicle to accomplish his mission. He used his training, his adaptable skills, his giftedness, to reach uncharted territory spreading the gospel message. We should think on these things, and do everything to stand.